A federal judge on Thursday sentenced Derek Chauvin to 21 years in prison for violating George Floyd’s civil rights, telling the former Minneapolis police officer that what he did was “simply wrong” and “offensive.”
U.S. District Judge Paul Magnuson sharply criticized Mr. Chauvin for his actions on May 25, 2020, when the white officer pinned Mr. Floyd to the pavement outside a Minneapolis corner store for more than nine minutes as the Black man lay dying. Mr. Floyd’s killing sparked protests worldwide in a reckoning over police brutality and racism.
“I really don’t know why you did what you did,” Justice Magnuson said. “To put your knee on a person’s neck until they expired is simply wrong. Your conduct is wrong and it is offensive.”
Justice Magnuson , who earlier this year presided over the federal trial and convictions of three other officers at the scene, blamed Mr. Chauvin alone for what happened. Mr. Chauvin was by far the senior officer present, and rebuffed questions from one of the others about whether Mr. Floyd should be turned on his side.
“You absolutely destroyed the lives of three young officers by taking command of the scene,” Justice Magnuson said.
Even so, Magnuson’s sentence was at the low end of the 20 to 25 years called for in a plea agreement in which Mr. Chauvin will serve the federal sentence at the same time he serves his 22-1/2-year sentence on state charges of murder and manslaughter.
Because of differences in parole eligibility in the state and federal systems, it means that Mr. Chauvin will serve slightly more time behind bars than he would have on the state sentence alone. He will also do his time in the federal system, where he may be safer and may be held under fewer restrictions than in the state system.
Mr. Chauvin’s attorney, Eric Nelson, had asked for 20 years, arguing that Mr. Chauvin was remorseful and would make that clear to the court. But Mr. Chauvin , in brief remarks, made no direct apology or expression of remorse to Mr. Floyd’s family.
Instead, he told the family that he wishes Mr. Floyd’s children “all the best in their life” and that they have “excellent guidance in becoming good adults.”
In entering his federal plea last year, Mr. Chauvin for the first time admitted that he kept his knee on Mr. Floyd’s neck – even as the Black man pleaded, “I can’t breathe,” and then became unresponsive – killing Mr. Floyd. Mr. Chauvin admitted he willfully deprived Mr. Floyd of his right to be free from unreasonable seizure, including unreasonable force by a police officer.
Justice Magnuson has not set sentencing dates for the three other officers who were on the scene – Tou Thao, J. Alexander Kueng and Thomas Lane – who were convicted in February of federal civil rights charges.
Mr. Lane is also due to be sentenced Sept. 21 after pleading guilty in state court to aiding and abetting second-degree manslaughter. Mr. Thao and Mr. Kueng turned down plea deals and are due to be tried in state court Oct. 24 on aiding and abetting charges.
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